New life for Pineapple Isle’s little lodge

Dole Pineapple is long gone from the quiet island of Lāna’i, but the rustic retreat pineapple baron James Dole built in 1923 for his executives and guests remains in business — and is about to undergo another incarnation.

The 11-room Hotel Lāna’i, at the top of tree-lined Dole Park in Lāna’i City, will join the Hawai’i-based Aqua Hotels & Resorts boutique chain on May 1, which already manages14 properties on O’ahu, and one each on Maui, Kaua’i and Moloka’i. (The company has already added information about Lāna’i and the inn to its Web site in preparation for the official changeover on Saturday, although reservations weren’t yet enabled.)

Jeanne Cooper / Special to SFGate

The recently renovated Hotel Lāna’i cottage is tucked behind the main building.

Rates will apparently remain the same, including a continental breakfast and starting at $99 for a standard room, $149 for one of four rooms with lanais and $179 for the stand-alone, two-room cottage with private garden patio. The plantation-era construction means wooden floors that are a little creaky and thinner walls than found in today’s soundproof hotels, but having stayed in both a lanai room and the cottage last fall I can say the friendliness of the staff and the vintage charm completely compensated. The bargain price — relative to the rates at the pair of truly luxurious Four Seasons hotels, the only other licensed lodging options on the island beside camping — was also an incentive to stay there.

“I have fond memories of spending nights at the hotel when I traveled to Lāna’i to meet with Dole management years ago,” said Bill Henderson, Aqua’s vice president of development, in a press release. “I was glad to see the hotel continues to retain the family-like ambiance and charm that it had back then but also offers modern conveniences travelers have become accustomed to having today.”

Owner Mary Charles has indeed renovated since Dole’s day, although those “modern conveniences” are not the typical resort-style whirlpool tubs and flat-panel TVs (well, the cottage has the latter — thanks to the foresight of her nephew, manager Mike Charles, who oversaw the most recent upgrades.) But there is Wi-Fi in the rooms (the signal’s strongest on the hotel’s main lanai, a pleasant place to linger) as well as a mini fridge in each. Beautiful Hawaiian quilts top the comfortable beds; furnishings are simple, setting off the colorful pictures of Lāna’i by local artist Mike Carroll. And the fact that renowned Maui restaurateur Bev Gannon designed the tempting menu for the in-house Lāna’i City Grille — which Four Seasons guests often patronize — doesn’t hurt either.

The restaurant is sweetening the deal, so to speak, by offering a complimentary dessert to guests who book a stay through Aqua for May or June. (Of course there are better reasons than that to stay at the upcountry hotel — check out my Nov. 13 Aloha Friday column for details.)